YuGiOh: Before the Beginning
by Tafkae
Summary: My old, old, OLLLLLLD theory on the Millennium Items. Oneshot. Read and review.


Yu-Gi-Oh: The Precursor Legacy  
by TAFKAE

This is my theory about how the Millennium Items got that way. I have not played the video game. Those of you who have, please don't dis on my unknowledge.

~*~*~

"_That_ little runt?"

The second figure glanced at the table on which the cards were laid. "Yes. He is one of the Seven, I'm sure of it."

"And he has no idea."

"No," the figure replied, shaking its head. "He plays the Game. He is aware of his power. He simply doesn't understand how to tap into it."

"So he must be put under control as soon as possible."

The figure shook its head again. "Look at him. He is confident and assertive, and will never let himself lose. We will simply have to wait until the opportunity presents itself…" It held up a small, inverted pyramid. "… to trap him, and harness his power for our own."

~*~*~

He was shorter than most of the people he knew, but _they_ were afraid of _him_, not the other way round. He had the best deck of anyone, and _never_ lost a duel, not to anyone. But he wasn't dueling right now. He was sitting in the shade of a palm tree, reading, as the ocean fizzled a few yards away.

"Yami?"

He looked up. It was Tremae, his best friend, coming toward him as fast as she could. She sat down in the fine, warm sand next to him. "I've got news."

Yami nodded. "What is it?"

"Revon knows something about you. He's planning something." She paused. "I could hear him whispering to Eresh about it."

Yami nodded again. "Yes, I know. I've been keeping an eye on them."

"Do you know what they're up to?"

He closed his book. "No, but it's not good."

Tremae looked up at him pleadingly. "Be careful. I wouldn't want to lose you."

He shot her a confident smirk. "You won't."

She sighed. "That's what you always say right before you get into trouble."

He laughed. "Maybe so! Heh heh… maybe so."

~*~*~

"No, Yami, it's _you_ who doesn't understand," Revon growled, his lavender hair falling over one eye. "I will not duel you because there is no need to."

"You're just afraid that you can't win without cheating," Yami replied boldly. "I know what you're up to, Revon, and let me be the first to tell you it won't work."

"That woman of yours," Revon grumbled after a few seconds. "She's a spy, isn't she?"

"I don't _need_ spies. It's obvious." He paused to let the gravity of the statement sink in.

"You fool!" Revon shouted, slamming one fist against the table. "You are totally unable to comprehend your own power!"

"Save it for Hell, soul-stealer," Yami snapped. "I know what I'm capable of. But more importantly, I know what _you're_ capable of."

Revon growled.

"That's the real reason Joseph died, isn't it?" Yami continued. "You stole his essence from him. But you won't kill _me_."

"Give me one reason not to."

Yami leaned forward. "Because you know I'd tear you apart from the inside out."

He could feel Revon's tangible anger and fear as he turned his back and left. Maybe he was short, but he sure as hell knew how to win an argument.

~*~*~

"We must get him tonight," Eresh growled after Yami exited the building.

Revon nodded. "Get him into the confines of this thing. I know." His fingers traced the outline of the golden pyramid.

"I trust you can handle him, soul-stealer?"

"Not for long. He's right, you know. I'd die."

Eresh tossed a single card through the air, which Revon caught. "I've saved this card for this very occasion," he said.

Revon pulled the card in front of his face. "The Control card?"

"It will keep Yami at bay until you can move his soul to the puzzle and break it apart." He sighed. "It will only work so long as you're holding it, though."

Revon picked up the nearby glass of wine, but didn't do anything more than swish it about. "Thank you, Eresh."

"Don't say I never gave you anything. I want him trapped in that item by morning. After that, Revon, you're on your own."

The glass noticeably shook with Revon's hand. "He will be yours by that time."

Eresh clenched a fist in front of him. "I _will_ harness the power of _all_ of the Seven, whether they like it or not!" he shouted, but the thick fabric of the tent wall reduced it to a mumble.

"Yes, sir," Revon replied, ignoring the fear he felt welling up inside him…

~*~*~

Yami pulled the golden ring out of the box. It was inlaid with a small inverted triangle and surrounded by five dangling tassels that fluttered in the breeze.

"I never thought it would come down to this," he murmured.

"You're only doing what has to be done." Tremae held the small golden ball in her hands, perhaps afraid of what could be done with it. What _would_ be done with it.

"He's changed," Yami sighed. "We were best friends, once, and now I have to…" He sighed again and bowed his head.

"Eresh hasn't changed," Tremae replied. "He's always been a megalomaniac."

"No one's gonna use me," her friend growled. "Not Eresh, not Revon, not anyone."

Tremae smiled. "No one can. You're much too stubborn."

~*~*~

It was dark. The interior of the tent was lit only by a single torch. The sky outside was lit only by the stars. Yami and Revon were ready to go at it. Eresh, unnoticed, stood in the shadows to the back. Tremae stood in the doorframe, biting her lip.

"So what are the stakes on the duel this time?" Yami asked impatiently.

Revon chuckled. "What duel? I've come here for one thing and one thing only, and it's you."

Yami's eyes narrowed. "You're bluffing. You know how strong I am."

"Oh, but I'm not…" He whipped out the card Eresh had given him. "And I'm prepared."

His eyes went wide. The soul-stealer had nothing in his way now, and he knew it. Revon's eyes flashed.

"No…!" Yami gasped, and then his eyes closed, and he collapsed silently to the ground.

"Yami!" Tremae screamed, rushing to his side. Thinking quickly, she took both the ring and the sphere out of his hands and stood. "You bastard!" she shouted, her voice full of tears.

Revon closed his eyes and positioned his hands just above the puzzle's surface, purging his mind of the sharp one's presence. He silently thanked the Control card for keeping Yami in check, if only for those few seconds; Yami could easily have killed him in those few seconds. The puzzle glowed slightly as an eye appeared on one side.

"Leave him alone!" Tremae screamed. "_You're_ the one who deserved that, not _him!_"

Revon chuckled. "If you want him so bad, take him!" He threw the puzzle with all his might at the stone sculpture in the corner, to break maybe both of them to shards…

The last thing he'd expected was her catching it. She had to leap to one side and get her white dress covered with brown stains from the sand to get it, but she did. Almost faster than humanly possible, she tied the cord around her neck and stood.

This wasn't how it had been planned, not in the least. Almost instantly, she found herself filled with an incredible amount of power, able to seal souls into whatever vessel she pleased, and then the voice… _Yami's voice…_ and the incredible _anger…!_

"It's your turn," she growled, unsure as to whether it was her or her friend.

Eresh's eyes widened. "Revon, you fool, look what you've done!"

Tremae's hair fluttered in and artificial wind, ripples of dark red electricity crackling around her body. "Let's do this," she said quietly and dangerously.

Eresh was the first to attack, emerging from the shadows with a shout. Yami Tremae waited, silent, for just the right moment , then with a flourish held out her hand and yelled. Something seemed to separate itself from his body, became trapped in the ring in her left hand, and then he was silent and collapsed to the ground as the eye appeared on the triangle in the center.

Revon lost it. "You bitch! You killed him!" he shouted, then charged as well. Tremae didn't wait before doing the same thing as she had to Eresh. The eye embossed itself on the little sphere as Revon's body fell to the floor.

Tremae smirked. "That'll teach you to mess with us…" Then she slumped to the earth herself.

__

You're a fool, one of the voices said. _Yami is too powerful for your pitiful body to handle._

Fool, fool, said another one.

She could almost feel Yami cradling her in his arms. _My God,_ he whispered, shaking. _I'm sorry, Tremae…_

Tremae smiled. "I only did what had to be done…"

Yami didn't have to think to know the exact moment that his best friend died.

~*~*~

Yugi sat up sharply on the sofa. "Tremae – !"

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. No, he was back in Japan, in the back room of the shop, where he'd fallen asleep watching TV. He clicked it off with the remote, then put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

__

That wasn't me dreaming, was it? he asked himself. One of his hands came down and fingered the puzzle around his neck, tracing the outline of the eye embossed on the side. _It was you remembering…_

Still, it was unnerving. Tremae had looked just like Téa, and the dead Joseph had brought up an image of Joey. And the more he thought about it, the more Revon reminded him of Pegasus, only less assertive.

__

Maybe your dreams are infused with elements from my life, he sighed. Despite how he sometimes referred to his alter ego as a separate person, he couldn't escape how inexorably their lives had intertwined. One and the same, and yet so far apart…

__

Sometimes I wish I didn't have this power, he sighed again._ The people I love always end up suffering. If it weren't for that, none of it would have happened… Tremae would have lived…_

Had he thought that himself? He wasn't sure anymore. He was already starting to forget what life had been like before he solved the puzzle – it had changed his life so much…

__

If the power was enough to kill Tremae, he speculated (mostly to change the subject), _I guess I'd have to be pretty strong to survive it myself._

This time, he was certain it was Yami talking. _Hai,_ he said quietly. _If you weren't strong enough to handle it, you wouldn't have been able to solve the puzzle in the first place._

Yugi smiled. _Destiny works in strange ways._

*END*

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